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Hontiveros questions P2-B budget cut for 33 gov't hospitals under 2021 budget

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Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/reuters/09/25/20200918-dr-jose-fabella-memorial-hospital.jpg"/><figcaption>Filipino nurse Marciana Erispe tends to a mother inside the maternity ward of the government-run Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Manila, Sept. 18, 2020. <em>Eloisa Lopez, Reuters</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Thursday flagged a P2-billion decrease in the 2021 budget of 33 national and regional government hospitals, saying this could slow down the country&#x27;s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p>Three of those hospitals were &quot;major COVID referral centers in cities that have the highest number of cases in their respective regions,&quot; Hontiveros said in a statement.</p><p>&quot;Billions worth of cuts in the middle of a pandemic means we drastically slashed the capacity of government hospitals to provide services and medicines for free,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;Dahil dito, aakyat pa ang out-of-pocket expenses ng mga tao. This is grossly anti-poor and anti-people,&quot; the opposition senator said.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Sen. Risa Hontiveros says the following government hospitals&#x27; funding under the proposed 2021 budget have been slashed, warns the P2-B budget cut may affect PH&#x27;s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> response. <a href="https://t.co/LnZh16ADGS">pic.twitter.com/LnZh16ADGS</a></p>— Kat Domingo (@_katrinadomingo) <a href="https://twitter.com/_katrinadomingo/status/1319097473713860608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2020</a></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>The Quirino Memorial Medical Center (QMMC) - &quot;which has the highest number of cases in the whole Philippines&quot; - will get a P305.48 million funding reduction, while the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao - which is at full capacity - will receive a P699.2 million budget cut, she said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/07/02/20/why-surviving-the-virus-might-come-down-to-which-hospital-admits-you">Why surviving the virus might come down to which hospital admits you</a></li></ul><p>&quot;Most of these hospitals are in emerging, if not current, hotspot areas,&quot; Hontiveros said. </p><p>&quot;Shouldn&#x27;t common sense tell us that when the threat is rising, we provide reinforcement?&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;We don&#x27;t know when this pandemic will end, so our hospitals have to be ever-ready to deal with the influx of patients,&quot; she said.</p><p>The P10-billion budget cut for the Prevention and Control of Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases is another questionable issue, she said.</p><p>&quot;Hindi tayo pwedeng basta-basta lang &#x27;business-as-usual,&#x27;&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;Hindi porket may COVID-19 ay nawala na ang ibang sakit, kaya dapat pinapatapang natin ang budget para sa matinding laban na ito,&quot; she said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/09/25/20/coronavirus-and-other-deadly-epidemics">Coronavirus and other deadly epidemics</a></li></ul><p>As of October 21, the Philippines is still Southeast Asia&#x27;s COVID-19 epicenter with 362,243 cases.</p><p>In August, health workers&#x27; groups in the country asked the government for a &quot;timeout,&quot; to give fatigued medical frontliners a break from tending to thousands of COVID-19 patients.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/01/20/read-medical-communitys-plea-for-timeout-and-mega-manilas-return-to-ecq">READ: Medical community’s plea for ‘timeout’ and Mega Manila&#x27;s return to ECQ</a></li></ul><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1ETlj9ToNEU?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Thursday flagged a P2-billion decrease in the 2021 budget of 33 national and regional government hospitals, saying this could slow down the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>

Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Thursday flagged a P2-billion decrease in the 2021 budget of 33 national and regional government hospitals, saying this could slow down the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hontiveros questions P2-B budget cut for 33 gov't hospitals under 2021 budget

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Hontiveros questions P2-B budget cut for 33 gov't hospitals under 2021 budget

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published October 22, 2020 10:54 AM PHT

Read More:

2021 budget

Senate

government hospitals

health

COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic

budget cut

Risa Hontiveros

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